Another electrical signal problem, atrial flutter, happens when a single electrical wave circulates rapidly in the atrium, causing a very fast but steady heartbeat. Long QT syndrome, a hereditary disorder that usually affects children or young adults, slows the signal that causes the ventricles to contract. Long QT SyndromeĪ number of other disorders occur because of problems with the heart's electrical system.
In addition, the condition can be a side effect of medication, and in those cases a doctor may adjust your prescription. If this is the cause, your doctor may recommend a dietary supplement. In these situations, taking medication or having a pacemaker implanted may be needed.īradycardia can also occur because of a nutritional imbalance. But people can also have bradycardia if they've had a heart attack or if an underactive thyroid gland or aging has slowed the heart. Young people and others who are very physically fit may experience bradycardia because they're in good shape, and for them it isn't dangerous and doesn't cause symptoms. It means your heart rate is slower than normal - fewer than 60 beats a minute for adults. Bradycardiaīradycardia is a type of arrhythmia that, for many people, is no big deal. In those instances, you should talk with a cardiologist about your heart and any needed lifestyle changes. But they also can happen as a result of heart disease, stress, overexercising, or too much caffeine or nicotine. Premature beats can occur in anyone, most often happen naturally, and don't require treatment. People who do feel symptoms report fluttering in the chest or a feeling that their heart has skipped. These types of arrhythmias are harmless and usually don't cause symptoms. Most irregular heart rhythms involve extra or skipped beats. Those at risk can be treated with medication or an implanted defibrillator that will shock the heart if it stops beating. Ventricular fibrillation usually happens in people with some sort of underlying heart condition. "If it's not shocked in a timely fashion - and we're talking minutes - then the patient will die," says Gordon Tomaselli, MD, professor of medicine and chief of cardiology at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. Because these chambers handle most of the heavy lifting for the circulatory system, ventricular fibrillation causes blood flow to very nearly cease. It occurs when the lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles) begin to quiver instead of pumping normally. Ventricular fibrillation is the most deadly type of arrhythmia. Tachycardia is most common in children and young people, and is more common in women than men. This condition can cause sudden cardiac arrest if it affects the heart’s lower chambers, but it's curable through ablation. It creates extra heartbeats because electrical signals that move from the heart's upper chambers to its lower chambers tend to loop back around to the upper chambers. But one type of arrhythmia called paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) is more dangerous. If it happens as a result of exercise, excitement, or fever, it's usually not a cause for concern and doesn't need treatment. Tachycardia occurs when your heart suddenly starts beating very fast. In some cases, a special procedure called an ablation, which purposely scars the defective part of the heart to prevent it from passing on unwanted signals, may be recommended. Blood thinners and medication to steady the heart rate and rhythm are mainstays of treatment. The condition itself isn't life-threatening, but it increases the risk for stroke by allowing blood to pool and clot in the atria - increasing risk fivefold, says Hugh Calkins, MD, an electrophysiologist and director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.Ītrial fibrillation risk is lower before age 50 but then steadily increases with age. Atrial fibrillation occurs when the heart's upper chambers (the atria) begin to beat rapidly and irregularly. The most common type of arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, affects about 2.7 million people in the United States, according to the American Heart Association. Some of these different types of arrhythmias can be incredibly dangerous if not properly treated, while others may be annoying but are not life-threatening. The defective impulses may cause the heart to beat too slowly or too fast, or to beat in a disorganized and chaotic manner. Problems with this electrical system can cause abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias. Your heart relies on electrical impulses to keep it beating at a steady pace.
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